Study site and species
The study was conducted at the Qianyanzhou Experimental Station of Red
Soil and Hilly Land, Chinese Academy of Sciences (26°44N, 115°03E, 102 m
a.s.l.), Jiangxi Province, southeastern China. This area has a typical
subtropical climate, with mean annual temperature and precipitation of
17.9 °C and 1475 mm, respectively (Wen et al. 2010). The parent soil,
weathered from red sandstone and mudstone, is classified as Inceptisol,
according to the USDA soil taxonomy. The forest was restored in 1985 by
planting tree species such as slash pine (Pinus elliottii Englem)
and Chinese fir (Cunninghamia lanceolata Hook) (Wang et
al. 2012). In this study, we selected 15 tree species belonging
to 13 genera and 9 families, with 8 AM species and 7 ECM species
representing the local plant communities (Table S1).